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"Pantaloon in Black" (Text Key 2089)

Submitted by sfr on Tue, 2013-03-05 09:21

Code:

PAN

Type:

short story

Notes:

"Pantaloon in Black" first appeared in Harper's Magazine in October of 1940, earning Faulkner $400 for his efforts, and it reappeared as one of seven stories in Go Down, Moses in 1942. "Pantaloon" is unique in that, of the eight previously-published stories Faulkner used for Go Down, Moses, he made almost no changes to the magazine version of Rider's story when preparing to include it in the novel. The early version included both references to the McCaslin family narrative - Rider's renting a home from Edmonds and his attempts to imitate Lucas Beauchamp's ever-burning hearth fire - but Faulkner did nothing more in the later version to incorporate it into the McCaslin narrative that so many critics have cited as the dominant strain of Go Down, Moses. As a result, Rider's story stands as something of a thematic puzzle in the middle of Go Down, Moses. It later resurfaces, through the musings of Temple Drake Stevens, in Requiem for a Nun (1950). We adhere to the version published in the Random House Uncollected Stories of William Faulkner, edited by Joseph Blotner.

"Pantaloon in Black" first appeared in Harper's Magazine in October of 1940, earning Faulkner $400 for his efforts. In 1942 he republished it as the third chapter, or story, in Go Down, Moses. While some of the eight previously published stories were radically revised for use in the novel, he made almost no changes to the magazine version of Rider's story. The early version included both references to the McCaslin family narrative - Rider's renting a home from Edmonds and his attempts to imitate Lucas Beauchamp's ever-burning hearth fire - but Faulkner did nothing more in the later version to incorporate it into the McCaslin narrative that so many critics have cited as the dominant strain of Go Down, Moses. As a result, Rider's story stands as something of a thematic puzzle in the middle of Go Down, Moses. It later resurfaces, through the musings of Temple Drake Stevens, in Requiem for a Nun (1951). Our representation of the story follows the version published in the Random House Uncollected Stories of William Faulkner, edited by Joseph Blotner.

How to cite this resource:Dye, Dotty, and Erin Kay Penner. "Faulkner's 'Pantaloon in Black.'" Added to the project: 2013. Digital Yoknapatawpha, University of Virginia, http://faulkner.iath.virginia.edu